Sewing-machine operating attachment



(No Model.)

A M. L. BIRDSONG. SEWING MACHINE OPERATING ATTACHMENT.

Patented Mar. 22, 1892.

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llllllllmml //v VENTOH WITNESSES 05 A TTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

MARY L. BIRDSON G, OF ARCOLA, MISSISSIPPI.

SEWING-MACHINE OPERATING ATTACHMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 471,462, dated March 22, 1892.

Application filed December 8, 1891. Serial No. 414,367. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MARY L. BlRDsoNG, of Arcola, in the county of Washington and State of Mississippi, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sewing-Machine Operating Attachments, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention, while applicable to other than treadle-operated machines, is more particularly designed as an attachment to sewing-machines operated by treadle or pedal, and it will here be described accordingly.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple, convenient, and readily applied and removable hand lever attachment to the treadle of a sewing-machine, whereby the machine can be efficiently run by the hand of the operatorinstead of by the foot, and whereby invalids and delicate girls and women who often are prohibited by medical men from using sewing-machines operated by the foot through a treadle may work such machines with impunity.

The invention consists in a novel device for such purpose or purposes, substantially as hereinafter described, and more particularly pointed out in the claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in whichsiinilar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the figures.

Figure 1 representsafront view of atreadleoperated sewing-machine with my invention applied, and Fig. 2 a vertical section on the irregular line 00 a: in Fig. 1.

A and B indicate an ordinary sewing-machine frame and table, and O a sewing-machine of any suitable kind on said table and capable of being operated by foot through a treadle D, pitman b, wrist-pin c, pulleys d e, and band f, in the usual manner.

G is my lever attachment to the treadle for operating the machine by hand through the treadle. This lever attachment consists of two inclined spring-arms g g, converging upward, provided with a handle it of any suitable kind at their tops and having bent gripping lower end portions z' 1', adapted to clasp the treadle between them on opposite sides of its fulcrum.

By means of this device the machine can be run at the same speed by hand as it ordinarily is by the foot applied to the treadle by the operator simply working the lever attachment, through its handle, backward and forward by her one or right hand, while herother hand is used to manipulate the material being stitched, and with even less exertion by reason of the leverage the spring-tongs-like attachment Gr affords, and the motion of the hand in working said attachment backward and forward to oscillate the treadle is so slight that little or no inconvenience is experienced by the operator. The hand-lever attachment G being made to spring and catch over the treadle on opposite sides of the fulcrum of the latter, it can readily be applied to any treadle-operated sewing-machine, and can be easily removed by simply springing the arms of the attach ment Ga little apart,when the machine may be operated by the foot applied to the treadle in the usual manner. The handle of this lever attachment G, when the latter is in its place on the treadle, is made to project out a sufficient distance on the one or right-hand side of the treadle to enable the operator of the machine to grasp it without trouble by her one or right hand, While manipulating with her other hand the material being sewed. To thus locate the handle, the arms g g of the hand-lever attachment G are made of unequal length, the inner one of said arms being made longer than the outer one, so as to throw the attachment out from the frame and'table of the machine. The portions 2' '2' of the lever attachment are preferably flattened where they clasp the treadle, so that said attachment when not in use will remain in position and not fall to one or the other side of its support.

Having thus described my invention, whatI claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A hand-lever attachment for treadles, comprising inclined spring-arms provided with a handle at their upper ends and having their lower ends bent to receive and clasp the edges of a treadle, substantially as described.

MARY L. BIRDSONG.

Witnesses:

F. S. ALDRIDGE, C. E. ELLIS. 

